Lambkill
by Starlit Skyline
Summary: "They called him many names, from Thief to Conman to even something as frightening as the Dark One. But he was a businessman through and through, and no one could ever argue the fact that he kept every deal he'd ever made." Rumple character study.


**Lambkill**

by** Starlit Skyline**

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><p><strong>Definition:<strong> Herbology; _A small American ericaceous shrub, Kalmia angustifolia, resembling mountain laurel but having narrower leaves and small red flowers. Also called "calfkill", "sheepkill", "sheep laurel" etc. It is supposed to poison young sheep and other animals that eat it at times when the snow is deep and they cannot find any other food._

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><p>They called him many names, from Thief to Conman to even something as frightening as the <em>Dark One<em>. But he was a businessman through and through, and no one could ever argue the fact that he held true to every deal he'd ever made.

Rumpelstiltskin didn't mind the titles – affectionate nicknames, he liked to call them – and they even made him laugh. People were so volatile, especially when they're on the losing streak in life.

But he warned them, didn't he? "All magic comes with a price!" But do they listen? Of course not! So blinded by their desires, by their wants, they always thought the consequences light, a small price to pay for a better life. Such naive hopes always were so amusing.

And if his deals were dissatisfactory or regrettable to his patrons or if they claimed his price was too high, well, they were the ones who wanted it, weren't they?

Want, not need, mind you. The difference was as great and wide as a chasm.

Like children, they'd all gather to steal all he could offer and beyond. Like children, who's parents hadn't gifted them with rainbows and butterflies and now they had to cried and whine for toys and candies and sweet things on cloud nine that they wouldn't get. Those poor little things. But everything had a cost. If they stole from him, then what they had wished for would never truly be theirs. If Rumple gave it away, he was secure in the knowledge that it would go to waste one way or another. That left his trade, everything _they_ wanted in return for a couple of trinkets to pass his time, this miserable existence he'd found himself in. He'd solve people's problems, fulfilled their wishes and gave them their "happily ever after"s. Did any of them return the favor?

Of course not!

That's why the only person worth looking after was oneself. People were selfish and self-serving, and he was no exception to the rule. Rumple wanted riches and kingdoms and people and to protect what was his. He was only human, and every heart could bleed if prodded – _wounded _– in the right places. If there was anything left of it, anyhow. He'd lost everything now. He lost his son. He lost the only woman who he'd ever truly loved. He'd lost the power to get them back, in this prison and in the Land Without Magic. But even if he had his powers in that accursed prison and this uncharted territory called Storybrooke, he still wouldn't be able to turn back the clock.

Time was precious, after all. It was the one thing no amount of bargaining could get back.

And he was an excellent bargainer, a gambler that never lost – but, then again, he was smart enough to not play any games where his victory wasn't assured. He always won but, sometimes, those victories seemed so insignificant, a coin-toss when he should have been playing chess with the big boys.

What did Regina like to say? About wolves and sheep? But, alas, he couldn't picture himself fitting in with either. If he were a wolf, than he'd probably be a lone one – and a wolf couldn't survive without a pact – and Rumpelstiltskin was, most definitely, _not_ a sheep.

A shepherd, maybe? Yes, that sounded just about right. He hunted wolves, defend his sheep from them and waited 'till he could skin them himself. It was actually all quite fitting.

"I hope you find what you're looking for." he says to them all, at some point or another, but he might as well been talking to himself.

Because, after everything was said and done, he still wished to find his own happy ending–

_even if he was too jagged to hope for it._

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><p><em><span>AN:<span> Rumple is one of my favorite characters in OUAT and I've been wanting to write a character piece about him for a while now. I hope I did him justice! Please drop me a review if you have a second to spare! Thanks!_


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